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Adjutant
General's Manuscript #5389
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Estimate
of Expenses of Quartermaster Joseph
Lewis, Morristown, 29 February 1780
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Oath
of Allegiance and Abjuration, July 1777 |
This
expense account by Morris County authorities lists services and
supplies provided to Gen. George Washington and the Continental
Army during their encampment at Morristown. Also included are charges
for sleds, sleighs and horses used in the January 1780 Staten Island
Expedition, in which Gen. William Alexander led his troops across
the frozen Arthur Kill to challenge the British in the enemy stronghold
of New York.
NOTE: Damage
includes discoloration, water staining, residue staining
and acidification from adhesive tape, edge tears, and
weakness along the fold lines.
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Prescribed
by law on 19 September 1776, oaths of allegiance and abjuration
were required of civil and military officers as well as those
whose support of independence was questioned by the
Council of Safety.
The oaths read: “I do sincerely profess and swear [or affirm]
that I do and will bear true Faith and Allegiance to the Government
established in this State, under the Authority of the People ...
I do sincerely profess and swear [or affirm] that I do not hold
myself bound to bear allegiance to the King of Great Britain. So
help me God.” This example includes over 160 signatures
of men whose loyalty was investigated by the Council of Safety.
NOTE: Damage includes fragmentation of the
document, tears, fraying and rodent damage along the
right edge, and discoloration.
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Supreme Court
Lost Deeds Files
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Burlington
County Court of General Quarter
Sessions Minutes, 1775-1787
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Claim
of William Watson of Woolwich,
Gloucester County, filed 1786
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Charges
of treason, sedition and rioting were brought before New Jersey’s
criminal courts as authority transitioned from the crown to the
state. This Quarter Sessions minute book from southern New Jersey’s
most populous county contains countless war-related cases. For
example, in August 1778 the state held an inquisition into the
loyalty of wealthy landholder Daniel Cox, alleging that the defendant
had “broken his Allegiance to this State.”
NOTE: Damage includes a completely fragmented
and disconnected text block, and many pages with bent
or weakened corners and torn or frayed edges.
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In his testimony
to re-establish legal title to his property, William Watson recalls
the wartime chaos that resulted in the loss of his family’s
papers. He recounts that the documents were lost “by being
removed from Place to place in order to secure them from the Enemy
sometime in the year of our Lord 1777 and which Enemy were at that
time in the Possession of the River Delaware and made frequent Incursions
into the Neighborhood of this William Watson …”
NOTE: Damage includes tears, fragmentation,
paper losses and discoloration at the fold lines, fraying
and tears at the edges of the document, creases and wrinkles.
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Adjutant General's
Manuscript #11052
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Petitions to the
Legislature |
Statement
of the Revolutionary Services
of Richard Reid, ca. 1780
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Petition
of Azariah Dunham,
8 November 1780
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In
this statement, Richard Reid attests to his activities at the
Battle of Monmouth: “I again served in June of
this year [1778] in the Company of Capt. J. Combs Stationed
at Crosswick Creek,
near Bordentown; we here acted as the vanguard or as pilots to
General Scotts Division from Pennsylvania, Marching through the
country to a place called Englishtown near the Monmouth Battle
Ground at which Battle I was detailed to take charge of the wounded
and such duties as might be required of me.”
NOTE: Damage includes tears, acidification
and discoloration from adhesives and glassine strips,
water staining, and weakened or separated paper at
the fold lines.
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This petition
records a plea to the Governor and General Assembly of New Jersey
from Azariah Dunham, Commissary of Military Stores for State Troops.
Dunham complains that after faithfully gathering supplies for “his
excellency General Washington’s requisitions,” he was
now being personally sued for the money due to contractors for these
materials. He asks the Governor and House to “think how discouraging
it must be to every Person in public Service if their private property
is thus exposed for the Payment of public debts and with how much
reluctance it may be expected they will discharge the duties of
their Offices in so precarious a situation.”
NOTE: Damage includes discoloration, staining,
acidification and residue from adhesive tape, brittle
paper and complete separation of sections at the fold
lines, fraying and paper losses along the edges.
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Adjutant General's
Manuscript #7825 |
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Commissary General's
Records |
Account
of Provisions Purchased by
Abraham Schuyler, 7 March 1780 |
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Account
of Naval Battle at Red Bank
on the Delaware River, 8 May 1776
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The
Continental Army required a variety of supplies to wage the war
for independence. This account lists provisions secured by Abraham
Schuyler, contractor for Middlesex County, including: sugar,
pepper, nutmeg, coffee, green tea, eggs, turkeys, geese, ducks,
cabbage,
and a considerable quantity of brandy, “spirits” and
hops.
NOTE: Damage includes discoloration, adhesive
tape and related acidification, residue and staining,
weakened paper at the fold lines, and frayed and torn
edges.
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This
statement by D. Humphrys provides an eye-
witness account of one of the first naval engagements in the
war, between American galleys and British warships H.M.S. Roebuck
and H.M.S. Liverpool: “the
galleys drew up very Close to the Ships and a Smart dreadful firing there was
such as my heart and eyes Recoild at and I forbore not to say alas for you my
Bretheren on Both sides who Can behold this unnatural Scene but with horror oh
when where and how will this unhappy Contest End ...” Fortunately,
an early trans-
cription of this document was made by the Adjutant General’s Office,
preserving the text.
NOTE: Damage includes fragmentation and paper losses, discoloration,
staining and embrittling from adhesive tape, glassine-strip repair,
weakened paper and frayed edges.
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Revolutionary
War Damage Claims |
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Damages
by the Americans in Bergen, Burlington,
Hunterdon, Morris and Somerset Counties,
1776-1782
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This
volume is one of seven produced at the end of the war to document
damages to property caused by both the American and British troops.
The book is opened to the claim and inventory of Isaac Gould of
Morris County, who reported that twelve yards of linen, one bee
hive and three sheep were taken from his farm by soldiers of the
Continental Army. He reports that he found the hides of the sheep “a
distance from his barn in the way towards their Encampment.” Many
of the inventories provide details of foraging and pillaging that
occurred in conjunction with engagements between the two armies,
or near military encampments.
NOTE: This volume is made up of various sized
booklets bound together. Damage is extensive, though
only partly visible here: the paper is brittle, weakened
and discolored throughout; the text blocks are loose
or completely separated. Many pages are torn and/or
frayed along the edges. |
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Conservation
Photos: The
following photographs show a Conservation Center for Art and
Historic Artifacts conservator working on some of our SAT
documents. (Photos courtesy of Gary Saretzky)
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